To Blog is to Blurt

Seeing something I have written in print always evokes
the wish that I could snatch the words back, if only for a moment, to
correct or change them. Manuscripts of notable novels and poems are
almost always indecipherable squiggles, cross-outs, arrows, editing
marks. Second, third and fourth thoughts are essential for clarity and
elegance of expression. As the great Thomas Mann put it, "A writer is
someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."

But the Internet puts a premium on speed. To blog is
to blurt. Quick, you got an email, so respond. If you were responding
in a letter, you might take time to think and think again. Speed is
the friend of reaction and the enemy of thought.

For years I played tournament chess. The first move
that occurs to a player is rarely the best move. Chess players learn to
sit on their hands, to force themselves to slow down. I fear we are
raising a generation that has never learned to sit on its hands. Our
children are learning to respond instantly rather than thoughtfully,
and assume spontaneity is always to be preferred over deliberation. At
times the true path is the one requiring patience.

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